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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645523">CryptiDcally weird</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClownBean/pseuds/ClownBean'>ClownBean</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019), Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Neal is an eel boio, THIS IS AN AU STORY, There will be more characters later on, cryptid AU, might also include some SlimeBomb at some point, so i guess i'll add tags for later chapters?, so you might not want to read it if you're a bit squeamish, the story will be more gross from time to time</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:47:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>12,963</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645523</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClownBean/pseuds/ClownBean</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Bellum is in New Zealand as her new lab is getting finished and finds a rather peculiar boy in the wetlands/swamp.</p><p>(This is an AU story where Neal is secretly a cryptid, an eel man if you will. But no one knows. I‘m not planning on changing much of the canon story and will instead try to work it in. It‘s going to be mostly Neal focused, starting in the past and working it‘s way to the present. More characters will appear later on and I might include some SlimeBomb in the future, who knows :)</p><p>That being said the story will be a bit more gross from time to time... So if you‘re squeamish about stuff like that you might not want to read this.)</p><p>This is the first story I‘m writing in english, so please have mercy if you find typos or if sentences are worded a bit weirdly, I‘m trying my best.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After a long trip Dr. Bellum finally arrived in Auckland, the helicopter landing on the grounds of the newly built lab. Stepping out of the vehicle she stretched her legs, admiring the outside of the building for a short while. As she made her way to the entrance two workers came out of the building, looking more than just a little nervous „Dr. Bellum? We‘re almost done with construction“ one of the men said, voice slightly shaky. „Almost?“ Bellum raised an eyebrow, not looking too pleased. Despite her small frame, the scientist could still be rather menacing. „y-yes. We‘ve followed your plans but we ran into some complications, the small living area you had requested for longer stays isn‘t fully finished yet.. but we‘ll be able to finish it today!“ the worker quickly added at the end of his sentence. </p>
<p><br/>
Before Dr. Bellum could say anything else her phone rang. Though you'd call it more a communication device than a phone since it was specifically constructed for the communication of VILE members. She answered it almost immediately „When did you plan on telling me that it would take longer to finish my laboratory, Gunner?“ she said accusingly since her collegue hadn‘t thought of mentioning that to her. „Calm down, Dr. Bellum, they guaranteed that it would be finished within this day.“ Maelstrom replied calmly. „And WHAT do you expect me to do in the meantime?“ Dr. Bellum didn‘t sound too happy. „Well, you could try to relax a little for once, get out into nature, explore new zealands wetlands, something like that.“ it sounded like Maelstrom almost had to hold back a chuckle suggesting this to Bellum. „I am a woman of science. I do not care for looking at pretty scenery. I came here to work on projects.“ „I know, I know, but look at it like this: maybe you‘ll find some kind of interesting microbes that you can use for future projects.“ professor Maelstrom replied calmly but happily, knowing very well that Dr. Bellum wasn‘t too keen on that idea. The scientist just let out an annoyed groan, rubbing her temples „alright. Fine. Better than pacing up and down in front of the lab i guess.“ „That‘s the spirit. I‘ll have two of your guards fly you somewhere.“<br/>
They ended their call and Bellum got back into the helicopter packing some equipment into a bag so she could take samples if she actually wanted to.</p>
<p>The flight didn‘t take long and soon they were back on the ground close to some wetlands, a little wooden path leading further into the swampy area surrounded by shrubbery and trees. The weather wasn‘t the greatest, fog covering the ground, which made Dr. Bellum hopeful that she at least wouldn‘t run into other people that could question her what she was doing. Following the wood path she started walking into the wetlands, not wanting to get stuck somewhere. One of the guards followed her while the other stayed at the helicopter.<br/>
The fog sometimes made it hard to see what was to the left and right side of the raised wood path. From time to time the path would change into a little bridge when it was crossing a stream. Bellum stopped in front of a larger bridge, just looking around for a while. She couldn‘t say that she was enjoying the view, more looking to see if she spotted anything of interest to her.</p>
<p><br/>
Just as she was about to set foot on the bridge and continue walking someone shot out from the left side of the path, grabbing at her bag and ripping it from her grasp. The guard was too stunned to react immediately since the attacker had come out of nowhere. Bellum was a bit faster however, after all it was HER equippment being stolen right now. Whipping out a little stun gun she had made herself she hit the target right in the back as they were trying to get away, who then squealed, twitching a little before going limp and face planting into the mud on the other side of the path. The stun gun wasn‘t made to kill someone, but was definitely strong enough to knock someone out for a few hours. <br/>
Packing away her weapon she noticed that her attacker seemed to be a teenager... a very dirty teenager.<br/>
The boy was wearing torn up clothes, a simple shirt and loose pants, being completely covered in mud and plant bits as if he had been doing nothing but roll around in the dirt. <br/>
Dr. Bellum looked over at the guard „Don‘t just stand around. Pull him out.“ picking her bag back up which had thankfully not fallen into the swampy mud. She couldn‘t help but be a little impressed how silently and quickly the teen had struck, they hadn‘t heard him approach at all. Maybe he had some VILE potential. The guard hesitated for a second before leaning down and pulling the kid onto the path by his feet, rolling him over so he wasn‘t laying face down anymore. Bellum wanted to lean down to check the boys pulse but quickly regretted her decision as the boy was giving off a putrid smell of old pond water, fish and swamp sludge, instead quickly covering her nose with one hand.<br/>
She‘s definitely never seen such a dirty orphan before. „well..“ still covering her nose she got back up, looking at the guard „carry him back to the helicopter. we‘re leaving.“. The guard didn‘t seem too pleased with that order but wasn‘t about to complain, grabbing the teen under his arms to drag him back. Not wanting to have too much body contact with the foul smelling boy.<br/>
Dr. Bellum was already trying to figure out what a homeless teen was doing in the wetlands before they had even reached the helicopter, but she could probably just ask about it later. As well as about where he had learned to sneak up like that. <br/>
Bellum spent most of the flight back covering her nose, trying to ignore the smell that the boy was giving off. </p>
<p>Thankfully the lab was actually finished this time when they returned. The scientist had the two guards carry the unconscious boy inside and into what seemed to be a bigger decontamination room. They laid him on the smooth tile floor and left again, leaving Dr. Bellum to watch over the child and wait until he would wake up again.<br/>
It took a while before the boy started to stir a little moving his slender limbs as he tried to clumsily sit up. His eyes widened suddenly when he seemed to fully realize that he wasn‘t in the swampy wetlands anymore. „Good, you‘re awake.“ Bellum stated calmly as she moved closer to the boy, causing him to try and move away. „your body might be a bit numb still from the electric shock.“ she continued, having put on some long protective gloves since the boy was still covered in wet mud from head to toe. „here.“ she grabbed his arm and helped him up onto a little stool „try not to fall off.“ walking away from him again. </p>
<p><br/>
Without any warning she grabbed a hose, starting to hose the boy down. If she was certain of one thing it was that she couldn‘t stand that smell for much longer, and frankly a hose seemed to be the fastest way to get all that gunk off that boy.<br/>
The teen flinched a little when he got hit with the water but didn‘t complain or make any noises, just sitting there in silence as the mud washed off his body and clothes. „how did you get into the wetlands? They don‘t seem like an ideal place for a teen to live.“ she got no reply, stopping the water when all the dirt had washed off. <br/>
For the first time she saw the teens black hair and pale, almost grey-ish, skin complexion. Which was only interrupted by what looked a bit like big black bruises peeking out from under some of his clothes. „What‘s your name?“ Dr. Bellum tried again as she grabbed a few towels, still no reply. The boy seemed to be about 14 years old from what he looked like. Sighing in frustration she went back over to the teen, who still smelled a bit but by far not as strongly as before. He‘d probably need more than one wash to get that smell off. </p>
<p><br/>
Bellum dropped a towel onto his head and started to dry him off, ruffling his hair a bit to get the water out. The boy started to squirm when she did that as if he wanted to try to get away. „Quit moving around so much, you‘ll get ill staying that wet.“ continuing to dry his hair. „..please... stop.“ they boy eventually muttered, shaking slightly. „So you CAN talk!“, thank goodness, that made things a lot easier for her. She noticed that he was shaking „you don‘t have to be scared if you play along nicely. I‘m just drying you off a little so you don‘t catch a cold.“ switching out the towel for a new one as she started to dry over his arms. The boy was still trying to pull away from the towel, muttering „..no“. The way he said that made Bellum pause for a moment. He sounded like he was almost panicking, breathing a bit heavily and starting to shake more. The boy overall looked extremely miserable. „are you ill?“ she frowned a little, god knows what kind of disease she might have brought into her lab. Wrapping the dry towel around his shoulders she took off one of her gloves, carefully placing her hand on his forehead. She immediately noticed his oddly smooth skin that felt a little cold to the touch. Removing her hand she wanted to pick up the towel again that she had wrapped around him, noticing what almost looked like little scar lines on both sides of his neck. <br/>
The boy started to breathe more heavily now, dropping off the stool like a limp noodle when Dr. Bellum took a step back. „most peculiar“ the scientist stated, her thoughts spinning as she placed the dry towels to the side and picked up the hose, spraying the teen with water once again. He gasped loudly and seemed to calm down almost immediately, breathing more slowly. She soaked some towels in water, kind of wrapping them around him as she muttered „most peculiar“ again. When she tried to help him up however she couldn‘t seem to get a god grip on him, her hands slipping off his arms. After she had tried and failed a few times to get a hold of his arm and help him back up she just waited until he would get back up himself. Thankfully it didn‘t take too long before the strange boy sat up again, gripping on to the wet towels as he looked up at Dr. Bellum.</p>
<p><br/>
„What‘s your name?“ she asked when he had calmed down again, trying to keep her composure. Of course she was rather excited about this scientific find, but she knew that it was probably better not to show it. If she wanted to keep the strange boy here she shouldn‘t try to scare him away. <br/>
Well, she could just keep him against his will, but then again, she wasn‘t sure what this strange new creature was capable of. <br/>
„...name?“ the teen replied after what felt like ages for Bellum. „Yes. Your name. What did people call you?“. The boy got quiet again for a while „....e-eel?“ „Eel is not a name. An eel is a fish.“. The young creature looked rather intimidated all bundled up on the floor as Bellum paced up and down in thought. „How about... Neal?“ she stopped pacing, looking at the bundled up teen, „ ‚Neal the eel‘ if you wish.“. She could see a little smile creep on his face as he nodded. <br/>
„Well Neal, I‘m sorry for removing you from your uh.... ‚habitat‘. But you‘re here now and-“  „I‘d like to go back actually... please.“ Neal shuffled around a little on the wet tile floor, not looking too comfortable. „Back?“ Bellum stared at him „you ca-“ she paused when she heard a low rumble coming from her ‚guests‘ stomach. „hungry, are you? I imagine it‘s hard getting food out there i-“ „not really, no“. Bellum frowned for a second, not too pleased that this child kept interrupting her „well, how about this: you stay the night, and I get you as much food as you want? you could eat well for a night.“ of course she wasn‘t going to let the eel boy leave, but she wasn‘t going to tell him that, and if she could bribe him to stay even better! Make him think that it was his decision to stay rather than having to keep him as a prisoner.<br/>
Neal stared at her for a while with big eyes as if he couldn‘t believe that she would actually do that, eventually nodding slowly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And with that ends chapter one. Please please let me know what you think. This is my first english speaking fanfic and also the first time I‘m trying to make an AU ; v ; Thanks for reading!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nuggies.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dr. Bellum could only wait until the boy eventually got up on his own again since any attempt to help him up was futile. After making sure that he was able to walk she escorted him out of the decontamination chamber and through most of the lab to that little living area that workers had been busy finishing earlier.<br/>Neal still had the wet towels wrapped around him, leaving a little trail of water as he shuffled after Dr. Bellum. The scientist opened a door to a little bathroom that had a shower-tub combo in it, making sure Neal was inside before closing the door again. „Alright. I will have to go out and get you food. You will stay here because I don‘t want you to dry up like a fish in the hot sun.“ putting the plug in the tub she turned on the showerhead, showing Neal how the shower worked „this is where you can turn the water off. I do NOT want to come back to have water spill all over the floor, got it?“. The teen just nodded. „Good. Stay here.“ Bellum left and Neal hesitated a little before sitting down in the tub, just waiting and staring at the wall.</p>
<p>It took a while before Dr. Bellum returned. The sun had almost finished setting when she left, so it was pitchblack once she came back, muttering a little under her breath. She had to deal with so many people trying to get any information out of them as to what they would buy for a child. Most had directed her to a fastfood chain with two gold arches above the entrance. Personally she wasn‘t a big fan of junkfood, but she guessed there was a reason why a lot of people loved it. She just really hoped it would be ok to give him this kind of stuff. The last thing Bellum needed was some strange boy to throw up all over the bathroom.  <br/>Carrying the little bag that absolutely reeked of fatty food she walked back to the bathroom, and to her surprise Neal really hadn‘t spilled any water, having turned off the water when it had gotten fairly high.<br/>The boy had kind of curled up, peeking out of the water and over the edge of the tub.<br/>„I see you‘ve gotten comfortable in the tub.“ the scientist stated as she sat down on a little stool to the side. Opening the bag she took out a red cardboard box „sit up a little, you don‘t want this to get wet.“. Neal did as she told him, sitting up in the tub and cautiously taking the box. Carefully opening it up he peeked inside. Everything in there smelled strongly of food, if a little foreign to him.<br/>Rummaging through the red box he eventually pulled out a little nugget, carefully nibbling on it as if he didn‘t quite know if he wanted to eat the weird soft warm rock. However it only took a few seconds before he shoved more of the nuggets into his mouth. Bellum was glad he actually ate the food, and so far it seemed like the fact that it was completely different than what he would normally be able to get outside didn‘t bother him. Hoping that it would stay like that she started to unpack the rest of the fast food from the bag, some more nuggets and a smaller burger.</p>
<p>Not getting much time to focus on where she would put the extra food she immediately looked back over to Neal when she heard a crunchy plastic sound. The boy had bit into the plastic bag of the little plush toy that had been in the box since it smelled just as strongly of food, just sitting there a little bamboozled. „That is not food, that is a toy.“ Bellum said pinching the bridge of her nose. Neal gave her a very confused look so she just took the little bag from him and tore it open, taking the little sad looking grey cat toy out before handing it back to him. Of course he wouldn‘t know what a toy is... he‘s probably never seen one. „Kids play with them.“ she tried to explain. The teen still seemed confused and just stared at the wide eyed cat plush. „It looks like you.“ Bellum stated and returned to placing the rest of the food somewhere. When she was done she got up and saw how Neal carefully placed the toy aside as if it was a living creature. „..right. it is probably better if you stay in here over night. Feel free to eat the rest of the food if you want. I‘ll bring you a blanket later-“ she paused for a second, not sure if that made a lot of sense since he would most likely stay in the tub „-if.. you want.“. Neal just shrugged and continued to nibble on some fries.<br/>At least he seemed to like the food.<br/>She was just about to leave the room, since she had other things to do before it‘d be time to rest, as the boy suddenly asked „What‘s your name?“ staring over at her. Bellum glanced back at him „you can call me Dr. Bellum. Good night, Neal.“ and with that she left, closing the door behind her.</p>
<p>Dr. Bellum rose with the sun the next day and her first priority was to check on the strange little eel boy she had found. Well, she couldn‘t call him little, he was already slightly taller than her and it didn‘t look like he had finished growing yet. When she reached the bathroom she was fully prepared to be faced with a big mess when she opened the door, but instead the room was empty „Neal?“. There was still water in the tub and all the food was gone. What was also missing was the blanket Dr. Bellum had brought him last night. She really hadn‘t been sure if he would need it, but if he did he would have at least had that. <br/>Looking around she quickly noticed the wet water trail that was leading out of the room and down the hall. She followed the rather obvious trace for a while before stopping and shaking her head. It really just looked like he was wandering around a little, looking at things. Besides there was no way he would get through the front door and she had more important things to do at the moment as the security system wasn‘t fully installed yet, so she just left him be for now and went to set up the system.</p>
<p>Maybe one or two hours had past since Bellum had started setting up the system in the smaller work room when she started hearing the dripping of water. Turning around she saw Neal standing in the open door, wet blanket wrapped around himself. „Ah, there you are, I was wondering where you had been, come in.“ she tried her best to sound as calm as possible but the setup of the system was not cooperating which had been slowly eating away at her. The boy cautiously shuffled further into the room. „I see you‘ve been exploring the lab?“ She replied with a quick smile. Neal just nodded. „it will have a high tech security system. No one is going to get inside without permission. I just need to finish setting up the program.“ She was holding a little USB stick that she showed to Neal, but the boy honestly seemed more confused than anything. The scientist sighed as she turned back around to continue on the system... bumping into a cardboard moving box. The little USB stick slipped out of her hand and fell on the floor. Sliding over the ground a little before disappearing in an  open vent shaft that hadn‘t been properly covered yet. „No! aaaargh!“ Bellum pulled at her hair a little, perfect, exactly what she had needed now. For the USB stick to fall into a vent shaft that was twisting it‘s way down. „of course. it falls down the one vent in the ground that is not covered up..“ speaking already a lot calmer than before. <br/>Bellum walked over to some other boxes and started looking through them. „feel free to continue walking around Neal, I‘ll be spending the next hour fish-“ however when she turned back around to look at the teen, Neal was gone. Instead there was now the wet blanket laying on the ground next to the open shaft that the USB stick had fallen into. <br/>She really didn‘t know how to react to this and just stood there a little stumped as Neal slipped back out of the vent, holding the USB stick between his teeth since he had needed his hands to climb the smooth metal back up. The boy dropped the stick on the ground and then went to bundle up in the wet blanket, just sitting on the floor. Dr. Bellum still needed a little while to process what had just happened. Somehow that boy had been able to not only get into the vent and maneuver around it, but he had also managed to turn around in that tiny space and get back out as if it was the easiest thing on the planet. Her brain was spinning with thoughts, sure she had wanted to do research on this strange creature she had found... but he was showing incredibly high potential to be a great VILE operative if trained a little. She hated to admit that in her mind she had still told herself that he was a ‚thing‘ while he just went out of his way to help her for no reason.. and looking at him all bundled up on the floor like that he looked almost cute. The same kind of cute you‘d call an ugly dog.</p>
<p>Picking up the USB stick she quickly finished setting up the system and returned to the boy. He was still wearing the same tattered clothes as when she had taken him away from the wetlands. Heaven knows where he had found them to begin with. „Get up, I think it‘s time you get some new clothes, i can‘t let you run around in these old rags.“ she looked down at him as Neal slowly got to his feet „thank you, doc“ „please, call me Saira“. <br/>If you had asked Dr. Bellum is she ever wanted to have children she would probably tell you that kids are annoying little rats. And if you would have asked her now if she was starting to see this weird boy almost as her strange son she would have never admitted it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Woweeee why these chapters be so short 8))<br/>anyways hope you enjoyed this little update!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(DISCLAIMER: remember the warning from the beginning of the fic that it might get a little gross from time to time? Just a little heads up, Neal eats a frog in this chapter. And stuff like that might return from time to time considering that wee bab eel boi was just eating what he could get his hands on in the wild.. which does include frogs and creepy crawlies. You‘ve been warned. Also needles. Or one needle. Bellum be doing science stuff.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dr. Bellum had to send someone to get new clothes for the eel boy since she didn‘t have anything at the lab that would fit him properly while still giving him the ability to comfortably move around in them. He was rather flexible after all and since she wanted to train him she didn‘t want to hinder his movement.<br/>Quite a while later the scientist finally managed to hand him new clothes. A very stretchy shirt and loose pants. Just as Saira was about to speak a ringing tone set off in the next room „give me a minute, I‘ll have to answer this. Feel free to get changed while I‘m gone.“ and with that she left the room. Neal just seemed a little stumped at first before shuffling to a corner to try the new clothes.<br/>Dr. Bellum went to the large monitor in the neighbouring room, answering the call she was getting from her colleagues.<br/>„Ah, Dr. Bellum, glad to see you could join us. Did you get accustomed to your new laboratory?“ Prof. Maelstrom asked calmly, a little smile on his face. The other faculty members were sitting at the large table as well, only one of the chairs being empty. „Yes i have.“ Bellum replied just as calm.<br/>„Good, good. You see, we were wondering when you were planning on coming back to the isle of vile? i know it must be terribly exciting to have a big new playground, but students are missing some important lessons“ Maelstrom continued „We can organize a flight back for you tomorrow.“ „I‘m afraid I‘ll have to stay here for a „while“. Bellum answered, earning very confused looks from her collegues. „Why is that? Are you already working on a big project?“ her colleague raised an eyebrow. „No, I took in an orphan who‘s showing high potential in becoming a great operative.“ Saira replied, wording everything so she wouldn‘t have to mention what Neal was. „I don‘t see how that is a hindrance to come back here.“ Coach Brunt threw in „we‘ve already got one little one on the island, surely we can make room for one more. Maybe they‘ll become friends.“ she had an enthusiastic smile on her face. Shadowsan however frowned at that statement „That is exactly why whe shouldn‘t bring another child to the island. Having one around is already enough work. We are NOT a daycare.“<br/>Dr. Bellum frowned ever so slightly as well at the suggestion of bringing Neal to the isle of vile already „..Gunnar, may i have a quick talk with you? Alone. Please.“. The other faculty members hesitated a bit before leaving the room so the two could have a little one on one conversation. For a while Maelstrom just sat in silence, waiting to make sure the others had left, before talking again „Alright, they are gone. What seems to be the problem?“ „I‘m afraid that I can‘t bring the kid to the island. At least not yet. He‘ll need to grow up first. I thought since you‘re a marine life enthusiast I could trust you with keeping this information a secret.“ Bellum replied. Her collegue seemed intrigued by this „and that would be?“. Bellum took a deep breath „The boy that I took in.. he‘s not quite human. I found him in the wetlands as he was trying to steal from me.“ „What do you mean ‚not quite human‘?“ Professor Maelstrom leaned a bit closer. „Well, it seems like I discovered some kind of fish-person hybrid.“ She replied, watching as Maelstrom‘s eyes widened. „Please, I must be certain that you‘ll keep this discovery a secret, Gunnar. I don‘t want this information to reach the wrong people.“ Bellum insisted, voice stern. „Of course, Saira. I have to say that I‘m quite curious to meet this ‚student‘ of yours, but what do you expect me to tell the others as to why you aren‘t bringing the child back to the island?“ „I will handle this, you can tell our dear colleagues to come back inside.“. Professor Maelstrom just nodded and let the other faculty members back in. „Finished your little talk already? What was so important that we had to wait outside like children?“ Coach Brunt asked with a raised brow. „Just boring formalities abou-“ Bellum didn‘t get to finish her sentence as she was interrupted by an opening door and Neal cautiously peeking inside. The door was out of view so the others didn‘t see him. „What do you need Neal?“ she asked, looking over at him. „I was just wondering.. if I was allowed to go outside? I... really want to go outside.“ The boy replied. „Is everything alright?“ Countess Cleo asked a little concerned. Not having heard what was going on since Neal had talked a bit quiet. „Yes, everything is fine“ Bellum pinched the bridge of her nose, „If you don‘t mind, I‘ll move to a mobile device to talk since i will have to go outside.“ Her collegues seemed confused why she had to go outside all of a sudden but didn‘t say anything as Bellum just connected to a mobile device and left the room.</p><p><br/>She noticed that Neal had drenched the new clothes in water. If she really wanted to train him as an operative than that problem would have to be fixed... „Let‘s go.“ with that she started leading Neal out of the building, her mind already spinning with possible solutions for Neal‘s little problem. Based on how the boy had acted so far she wasn‘t too worried about him trying to run away, but she still wanted to keep an eye on him.<br/>Once outside she started talking to the other vile faculty members again. The mobile device was only capable of handling a voice call, but it would have to do for now. „I apologize for that inconvenience. The orphan boy wanted to go outside. He‘s just been living in the streets for so long that he feels a little trapped inside.“ Bellum explained before quickly adding „anyways, about the changes we had talked, Gunnar. The problems i had told you about earlier. I will send you over new plans so the laboratory can be changed accordingly. I‘m glad you agreed with them and I hope the construction can start soon.“ Saira had to try hard to hold back a laugh, a big smile on her face since she knew that Professor Maelstrom wouldn‘t be able to say anything else without giving away the little secret. Gunnar sounded a bit taken aback by her words „uhm.. yes. of course. I‘ll see what I can do.“<br/>They continued talking for a while, with Bellum telling the others that Neal had a certain rare skin condition and she was busy trying to find a solution for it. Which technically wasn‘t even a lie. </p><p>Neal was just wandering around while she was keeping a keen eye on him. He had found a little stream just as Dr. Bellum had finished the call „Well Neal, my colleagues are all very excited to see how your trai-“ she stopped when she saw Neal suddenly launching forward into the mud, facing away from her, before quickly bringing his hands to his face. „...Neal. What have you got there?“ she kind of sounded like a stern dog owner. The boy flinched a little, replying with a muffled „Nuffin“ as he glanced over at Dr. Bellum. For a split second Saira saw a frogleg sticking out of his mouth before Neal quickly swallowed. <br/>While she wasn‘t really surprised that he had done this she also hadn‘t thought that he‘d still try to get food by himself. Rubbin her temples with one hand she let out a frustrated groan „Please, just tell me when you are hungry. I don‘t want to have to explain what‘s going on if someone would ever see you catch frogs and the like.“. Neal pulled his shoulders up a little as if he was a turtle trying to hide in its shell. He had never been very picky about what to eat, as long as it wasn‘t eel, those cute snake like fish almost seemed like family to him. Meaning that if it was edible it was food, and frankly with seeing something move around the little stream his reflexes had gotten the better of him. The boy just stood there a little embarassed, fearing that Dr. Bellum would be mad at him. <br/>Saira just sighed „Let‘s go back inside. You‘re already covered in mud again.“<br/>She led him back inside and to the decontamination room since she didn‘t want mud smeared all over the lab. Neal just sat down on the little stool again while Bellum grabbed the hose, spraying him down with water and washing the dirt off. The boy squeezed his eyes shut when she did that and stuck his tongue out a little as soon as she was done.<br/>„There, that‘s better.“ putting the hose away again Saira walked over to the eel boy „I‘d like to let you know that I‘ll be working on a better solution to your little ‚water problem‘. However I don‘t know much about you yet. All i know is that letting your skin dry out doesn‘t seem like a good idea and that it feels quite different to human skin.“ she paused for a second just to make sure Neal was still following her words and not zoned out, „So I was wondering if it would be ok with you if I took a closer look at its properties and such. Nothing big, just around the upper body.“. Neal was listening to everything she said, but just looked at her with big eyes as if he didn‘t have a single thought in his brain right now. „You see, I want to try to create you a suit, based on the smooth, slippery properties of your skin, that is also tough enough to protect it from drying out. It‘d be flexible so you can move around freely without having to worry about making sure that your clothes are wet all the time. Almost like wearing a second skin.“ Dr. Bellum looked at Neal, waiting for any sort of answer. The boy just sat there in silence for a while before eventually replying „You could do that?“ „Of course! You are talking to a great scientist, my boy.“ a smile spread on her face and Neal nodded, mumbling „I don‘t know what that is, but ok“. And just as quickly Bellum‘s smile turned into a little frown, he really had to learn a lot if she wanted to present him as a normal student „Well, let‘s go to a different room then to have a closer look at you.“ when Neal got up from the little stool she quickly added „And after that we‘ll get you something to eat.“<br/>The boy smiled a little at that and nodded, happily following the scientist.</p><p>When they got to a room in the facility that actually looked more like a laboratory for once she let Neal sit down on a simple chair, quickly preparing some wet towels just in case his skin got too dry. „If you wouldn‘t mind taking off your shirt.“ Dr. Bellum also prepared a small syringe as the teen wiggled out of his shirt, revealing more dark patches on his skin, but most prominently on his shoulders and sides. Saira took off one of her gloves, carefully tracing her fingers over the dark patch on his shoulder. His skin felt a little tougher there compared to his lighter coloured skin. From far away the patches still looked more like big black bruises, which was probably a good thing if anyone would ever happen to catch a glimpse of them. Removing her hand again she immediately noticed the slippery substance that stayed on her fingers, reminding her very much of the kind of mucus an eel produces. However while most of his skin had this ‚slimy-sheen‘ to it she‘s never seen it on his hands or face. Said substance was probably what helped the boy with being able to stay out of water for a longer time, as long as his body wasn‘t getting too dry.<br/>Dr. Bellum carefully scraped some of the mucus on her fingers into a little container to have a closer look at it later, moving on to Neal‘s hands. One would expect to find some kind of webbing between his fingers, considering that he aparently used to spend a lot of time in the water, but for some reason that wasn‘t the case. His feet however did have webbing between the toes. Oh well, if it made it easier to pass him off as human it was fine with her. And not having to explain oddly shaped gloves definitely made it easier.<br/>She also noticed how rough the palms of his hands felt. The texture making them appear almost sticky, even though they were completely dry, so it wasn‘t like there was some kind of sticky substance on them. It would definitely explain how he managed to climb up a smooth metal vent with ease... <br/>Bellum quickly turned around to take little notes, not wanting to forget any details for later. When she turned back to Neal she was holding the little syringe and a strap, tightening the strap around Neal‘s upper arm. „This might sting for a split second. I just need a little blood sample.“. The teen just watched her as she quickly wiped a little spot on his arm clean, flinching ever so slightly when he got pricked with the needle. A few seconds later Dr. Bellum was done, removing the syringe and strap and placing a little cotton pad over the spot „Press this down and raise your arm up or you might get a little bruise there.“. The boy did as she told him, just sitting there a bit awkwardly with his arm raised. „Alright, that should be enough for now. You can put your shirt back on as well.“ she handed him one of the wet towels just in case, „How about you wait here and I get you a list of different takeout food in the area so you can pick anything that looks good?“ She was still trying to bribe him with food since it seemed to have worked quite well the first time. Neal had a big smile on his face as he put his shirt back on „Yes please“.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you enjoyed this little update! Sorry it took so long. Neal's just happy he gets gud food. Can you blame him?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oh my god I'm so sorry that it took so long!! </p><p>The boi is learnin.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Neal had fallen asleep in the tub right after eating, even though it hadn‘t been that late yet.<br/>
Bellum however was busy working on preparing plans for changes that would have to be made to the lab. One of the changes was that she wanted to get more vents installed. She didn‘t need any more from a technical point, but she wanted to lay them out in a certain way to find out how fast Neal could get from A to B and to give him shortcuts in a way. She just saw some great stealth potential in him and wanted to keep training that.<br/>
The other change that she wanted was rather big though and would require construction for a pretty long time, not that the vents would be easy to put in either. By the time she had finished that paperwork it was already late, but she wanted to go back to the lab room to run some tests on the blood sample she had gotten from Neal.<br/>
Needless to say Bellum did not leave the lab again that night to go to her room and sleep, having passed out over the printed out test results on a table.<br/>
The eel teen wandered the laboratory again the next morning, eventually spotting Saira passed out on a table. He just sat down across the little table, watching her slightly confused as to why she was sleeping here. When she finally started to wake up she slowly lifted her head off the table before letting out a startled scream, not having expected anyone to be in front of her. The boy flinched a little from her scream, backing off. „Neal! what..“ Bellum looked around, slowly realizing that she had fallen asleep during her research. For a while she just stared at the papers she had fallen asleep on as if she wasn‘t fully there yet. „Ah!“ Bellum looked up at the boy who just stood there a little confused, „you don‘t happen to remember your parents, do you?“. Neal just shook his head. „Hmmmm... were there more like you out there?“ she had already picked up a pen to take notes. Once again Neal shook his head. Bellum let out a soft sigh, she hadn‘t really expected anything else „I did some tests last night, looking at your DNA and such.“ „ .. my what?“ the teen interrupted, still confused. „Nevermind. I was curious because if you ignore a few details you could walk in a crowd of people and no one would question that you‘re human. Plus you somehow speak fluent english, where did you learn that?“ changing the topic for a second she gave him a questioning look. „I liked listening to people passing through and imitating the noises they made.“ he replied, tilting his head to one side. „Hmm.. a smart one.“ Bellum highly doubted that that was the only reason he spoke so well, but if he couldn‘t remember than there was no use in questioning it right now „What was I talking about..? Ah, yes! The DNA.“ she quickly pulled out one of the papers to look at it, „It looks fairly similar to human DNA, making me wonder if you happen to be some kind of... hybrid.“ When Neal just looked at her as if she hadn‘t understood a single word she just said she clearified, „In your case that would mean that one part of your parents was human, while the other wasn‘t.“ „... And?“ Neal still looked at her with confusion, not really understanding if that meant anything. „I... honestly don‘t know where i was going with this“ Saira placed the papers aside „scientific curiosity.“ <br/>
She slowly shook her head before looking over to the boy again „I had placed an order for something rather big that should arrive today. It may not be perfect, but I think you‘ll quite like it.“ She got up from her seat and stretched, adjusting her goggles „but until this package arrives, how about breakfast?“<br/>
Neal seemed excited about that suggestion.</p><p>Shortly after they were both sitting in the little kitchen area. Dr. Bellum was enjoying a nice cup of hot coco, watching Neal happily chow down on fishsticks. „I know that you really enjoy chicken nuggests and fishsticks, but you won‘t be able to only eat those two things forever“. Neal paused for a second when she said that to look at her before continuing to eat. „Your diet did seem to be high in protein, but I‘ll have to find out more about it. I wouldn‘t want you to get malnourished since our processed foods have a completely different nutritinal value than what you would have been able to catch in the wild.“. Neal paused again, whispering „I like the soft rocks.“ „They‘re not rocks, they‘re chicken nuggets.“ Saira took a big sip from her hot coco. <br/>
She had just finished her drink when the security system let Bellum know that someone was at the front door. She quickly checked the security cameras before stating „well, they really do have fast shipping. Please wait here, Neal. Enjoy your breakfast.“ The eel boy nodded as Bellum left the room to let the delivery guy in.<br/>
The package was quite huge, meaning that she had to call for multiple guards to move it to a spare room.<br/>
The small scientist didn‘t return to the kitchen for quite a while, but when she eventually did she seemed rather proud „Let‘s go. I need to show you something special“.<br/>
Neal seemed rather curious what she could want to show him, following Saira to the spare room. He let out a soft gasp when she pushed the door open, revealing a rather big glass tank without a lid. While it wasn‘t big enough for him to properly swim around, he could at least swim in circles and fully submerge himself in water without having to squeeze into the tub. „Of course this is only temporary, but it‘s got a good filtration system to make sure the water stays fresh and clean. I thought you might want something that‘s bigger than the tub to sleep in.“ She looked up to the boy who just stared at the glass tank with big sparkling eyes. „It‘s a little plain right now, but if you want any sand or rocks in it I‘m sure that can be arranged.“<br/>
Dr. Bellum smiled softly and watched Neal climb up some boxes before slipping into the tank, diving under and just happily floating in the water for a while. Saira watched him with interest as you could see the webbing between his toes more clearly now, the gills on his neck moving softly. When he emerged from the water again he had a big grin on his face, showing his buck teeth even more than usual „Thanks, doc! I love this.“. She couldn‘t help but smile back at him, he seemed so happy just from what was basically a big box with water „I‘m glad you like it Neal, and if you‘ll excuse me again for a minute. I have something else prepared for you that you might find interesting.“ she quickly left the room again, leaving Neal to swim in little circles as he was excited what she was going to show him.<br/>
When the scientist came back again she held a bulky tablet in her hands that, despite it‘s mass, seemed rather high tech. „I prepared a tablet for you. It‘s completely water proof and only has two applications on it. One of which is a channel that shows a lot of nature documentaries, I thought you might find those interesting. With the other, correct me if I‘m wrong, but i suspect that you can‘t read?“ she raised an eyebrow looking at him and since Neal just gave her a questioning look back that was probably a yes. „well the other app will help with that. It‘s made to teach kids how to read, so that‘s a good start. It‘s got a button on one side to turn it on. the other two buttons on the other side are to change the volume of the sound.“ she showed the buttons to him and then handed the device over. Neal looked at it with big eyes. „consider this the official start of your education, if you need any help you know which rooms you can find me in, I‘ll be busy working on the next project. And if it ever gets too boring i can install more programms on it for you.“ „Thank you, Saira“ the boy looked like he was in awe as he pushed the button to turn the tablet on, holding it like it was the greatest treasure he‘s ever had. <br/>
„Well then, I hope you enjoy the tablet. Tell me if you get hungry.“ Saira smiled at him before leaving as the eel boy seemed rather busy with his new little gadget now.</p><p><br/>
And so the next two days passed. Neal would switch a lot between watching documentaries and using the program to teach him how to read, happily sleeping the nights at the bottom of the big tank. <br/>
By the time the 3rd day rolled around he was somewhat able to read, of course it still took him a while but he was able to identify the different letters and what sounds they made, managing to slowly piece the words together from that.<br/>
Dr. Bellum came to him in the morning, holding a small bundle of some kind of fabric „Good morning, little elver“ she had a big smile on her face „today is an exciting day!“. Neal slowly opened his eyes, stretching and yawning under water before swimming up to peek over the edge of the tank „Good morning, doc. What is it?“ „Mind coming out for a second, I‘ve got something for you“ Saira seemed rather excited about this, unwrapping the little bundle to reveal that it was some kind of one piece suit, looking a bit like a neoprene suit. The boy tilted his head to the side in curiosity and climbed out of the tank, looking at the strange piece of clothing. „This is still a prototype, and I‘ll make better ones in the future, but I‘ve finished constructing you a suit that should help you with your little water problem. Remember that i told you that i was planning on making you a ‚second skin‘ so you wouldn‘t have to stay close to water all the time?“. Neal gasped softly when she said that. „well, this would be the first version of this ‚second skin‘. your feet are covered but your hands are still free at the moment. It doesn‘t cover your neck either since i‘m not sure yet if that‘s ok for your gills or not, but overall it should make things a lot easier. You can try it on right now if you want.“ she opened up a zipper in the front „I‘ll probably try to get rid of the zipper in the future and look for a different solution since i don‘t want it to get in the way, but for now it will do“ Dr. Bellum handed the suit to Neal „I‘ll be waiting outside, tell me when you‘re done or need help“ and with that she left the room again so the teen could get changed in peace. Neal nodded and after a while of shuffling into this new suit he opened the door again. „Looks like it fits well. Is it too tight or too lose anywhere? how are you feeling?“ Saira was already asking questions again as Neal still seemed to get used to the feel of having his feet covered „i.. uh.. I‘m good, thank you, Doc“ giving her a little smile. „Well then, how about we do some test runs to see if it works before going on a little trip?“ Bellum replied excitedly, giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That's all for this chapter.<br/>A friend informed me that a baby eel is called an "elver".</p><p>if you liked this little update feel free to leave a comment! i love reading them and hearing back from you guys :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next two hours were spent testing the suit under different conditions to see if it would protect the eels skin from drying up. <br/>The conclusion was that it did a pretty good job so far, however Neal still had to keep his hair at least somewhat damp. It wouldn‘t really harm him in any way to have his hair dry, however it did make him extremely uncomfortable.<br/>Satisfied with the results Dr. Bellum packed two bottles of water into a bag. Neal was busy hopping into some new clothes that he could wear over the suit to make it look ‚more normal‘. Saira carefully wrapped a scarf around him to hide his neck „all done. guess this will be the first time you go into town.“. The teen seemed slightly confused as Bellum led him out of the facility, a car waiting for them outside. „how would you like it if we make your little tank a little more lively? I know from now on it will be easier for you to manouver around out of water without having to worry, but i still thought it might be nice“ Saira stated calmly as he opened the cars door to the backseats for him and helped him inside, showing him how to buckle in his seat belt. „That would be lovely, thank you, Saira“ the teen replied and Bellum couldn‘t help but smile a little. He really was a curious little thing. One of the guards was driving the car so Dr. Bellum got in on the side seat before they drove off, heading for a big pet store. Neal looked out ot the window with big eyes the entire time, staring at all the big buildings and people roaming the streets, he kind of wished he could just stop and watch everything for a while, observing what people were doing, but of course they were in a moving car that only stopped when they had reached the store they were looking for. Bellum got out of the car and quickly got a cart before returning to Neal to let him out as well. „A little bit of information up front, everything inside this building will have to be placed in this cart before you can have it, alright?“ of course her trying to stop Neal from accidentally stealing was rather ironic, considering that vile was training thieves. However she really just wanted to stay out of trouble from Neal taking or breaking something. She wouldn‘t mind him stealing at all, but sadly the little elver wouldn‘t really be good enough at it yet so people would notice if he tried. The teen cautiously nodded „yes?“.<br/>That answer was good enough to Dr.Bellum, leading the boy inside and towards the general area that held things for fish and fish tanks.<br/>The little elver wandered around the shop and Bellum followed him. Showing him the different kinds of rocks and sands, plants and all sorts of things that people could buy for their fishtanks. After a short while they ended up with bags of fine sand, various plants and some bigger pieces of driftwood. Neal had insisted that he wanted some of the colourful glass rocks as well, having wandered off now to look at the little critters in their cages while Saira went through everything again to see what they had.<br/>When Neal returned to doctor Bellum he was carrying a small plastic box, crickets hopping around inside. A little frown appeared on her face „Neal, no. Those are food for some lizards and amphibians, not pets.“ The boy gave her a confused look, his tongue sticking out a little as he just pointed at himself. Rubbing her temples Saira let out a sigh „They‘re not food for little-“ she paused and then sighed again, taking the plastic container from the eel and placing it in the cart „Fine, if you insist that you want those.“<br/>The teen smiled brightly, just seeming to enjoy this time out in the town. </p>
<p>~~~~~~</p>
<p>A few months passed and big construction work at the lab was in full swing now. Neal the eel actually had a lot of fun in learning the basics of math and getting better at reading and his vocabulary, people watching being one of the things he did more regularely. It was nice that no one was questioning his existence whenever he just sat on a bench and watched people pass by.<br/>Dr. Bellum had had to start traveling back and forth between the isle of vile and her lab in new zealand, still having to take care of the cryptid she had found while also starting to teach the students at the school again. These days where the scientist wasn‘t at the lab had brought Neal to try and learn how to cook. Granted he.. wasn‘t very good at it, but he definitely wouldn‘t starve whenever Saira left the lab for a few days.</p>
<p>„Rise and shine little elver, I‘ve got a surprise for you“ Dr. Bellum knocked at the door before she came into Neal‘s room with a big smile on her face, carrying a wrapped up bundle. „Huh?“ the eel sleepily raised his head from the bottom of the tank, having a shallow little pit in the sand where he usually curled up to sleep. Little colourful glass rocks were sprinkled around the light sand and between the driftwood. The small cat plush toy Neal had had in that first Happy Meal was sitting on the ground in front of the tank and all the plants they had bought months earlier were  growing nicely.<br/>Speakig of growing, so was the teen, seeming to have hit a growth spurt. That also meant that the prototype stealth suit didn‘t really fit him that well anymore, but he didn‘t wear it whenever he was in the tank anyways, rather wearing some comfy shorts and a shirt in the water. <br/>Swimming up he poked his head out of the tank before climbing out completely, watching Bellum as she unwrapped the bundle „here it is. The eel suit 2.0!“ she was beaming as she held up the stealth suit „I‘ve enhanced the material and the suit will now cover your hands. But don‘t worry! I‘ve installed new and improved friction pads at the hands and feet. That way you‘ll have a great grip while being difficult to get a grasp on“. Neal watched her as she explained everthing. „How about you give it a try, I‘ll be waiting outside while you change. OH I almost forgot a very important part, I‘ve replaced the zipper, it would just get in the way. Instead i installed a special strip in the back, think of it like very thin powerful magnets that only stick to themselves, so no getting stuck on metal. You can only unlock it with a little micro chip, so it‘s not coming off if you don‘t want it to.“ <br/>The little chip was hidden in a small pocket below the wrist and Dr. Bellum showed Neal where it was. „all you have to do is press the little button here and then reach back to where the ‚zipper‘ is. Think you can do that?“. Neal gave her a bright smile and a thumbs up, rather excited to try the new suit on „Sure thing!“. The scientist nodded „I‘ll be waiting outside your room then, come out when you‘re done, there‘s more i need to show you.“ and with that she left the boy to try on his new suit.<br/>It took a little while before Neal came out of the room since he wasn‘t used to the new mechanic of the ‚zipper‘. When he had stepped outside he did a little spin to show it off. „How do you feel?“ Saira was curious what the eel boy thought of the improved suit. „Good. It feels a little strange to have my hands covered, but I‘m sure I‘ll get used to it.“ Neal‘s speech had improved greately over the last months. „I‘m glad“ Dr. Bellum had a big smile on her face, „now, if you would follow me. The extra vents i had requested are finally finished and I think it‘s time to start your proper training.“ she started to walk off and Neal followed her. They walked a bit before stopping at an open vent. „I‘ve prepared a map of the layout of the vents so you won‘t get lost. What i want you to do is climb in here and try to reach the other side as fast as you can. When you reached the other side there‘s a button you can press, that way I‘ll know how quickly you managed to do it.“ Bellum showed him the little ‚x‘ on the map that marked where he was supposed to go, giving him an encouraging smile before handing the paper over. „Consider it done, doc!“ the boy replied happily and, within the blink of an eye, disappeared into the small vent opening.<br/>Pulling out a little monitor, Saira waited for a notification to pop up. She was quite surprised when it didn‘t take long at all before text appeared on her screen, informing her that Neal had pressed the button, and not too long after the eel slipped back out of the vent next to her „Did I do good?“ „..good? The laboratory is a massive complex, how did you get to the other side that quickly??“ Dr. Bellum was a bit baffled, she hadn‘t expected him to be that fast. „well, I‘m a slippery fellow~“ the teen smiled brightly before adding „celebratory soft rocks? I haven‘t had breakfast yet.“ „.. you‘ll never stop calling them that now, will you?“</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh god I am so sorry that it took me over a month to update the story :( and it's not even a long chapter...<br/>I promise I'm still working on it, aaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Life be stressful and i often don't have the energy anymore in the evening to continue writing.<br/>But i still hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to leave a comment if you want to, i love reading them.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Did someone ask for more cute shit???<br/>No?<br/>Too bad, here's more cute shit!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The months flew by and Neal‘s training was in full swing. Dr. Bellum had build different contraptions for him that mainly trained his ability to dodge, since the short scientist wasn‘t really able to teach him hands on combat like Coach Brunt would. She also left the laboratory more and more often now to teach the students on the isle of vile, sometimes being gone for almost a week.<br/>Currently Bellum was at her lab again, finishing some paper work as Neal walked into the room, carrying a cup of fresh hot chocolate. He placed the cup down on her table with a soft smile „Training all done for today, doc~“. Saira thanked the boy before looking up at him, adjusting her goggles. The eel was towering over her at that point, but it seemed that his growth spurt had finally stopped. Running a hand through his hair Neal tried to adjust two stubborn strands of hair hanging into his face. You‘d think that the gel Dr. Bellum had made so he wouldn‘t be uncomfortable anymore from his hair being dry, would help with taming those stubborn strands. But mostly it just made it look like his hair was a bit greasy. Not that Neal cared much.<br/>„Very well, it is late, you should probably rest up now. Tomorrow is a special day.“ Saira had an excited smile on her face. Her student seemed slightly confused „What is tomorrow?“ „If you don‘t know already than it‘s a secret. You‘ll find out seen enough. Good night, little elver.“ and with that the Dr returned to her paperwork, a smile on her face.<br/>Neal knew that it was pointless to try and get that information out of her so he just shrugged, wished his mentor a good night, and left.</p>
<p>He hadn‘t been gone for long when the VILE faculty called Dr. Bellum.<br/>„Good evening Dr. Bellum, I hope we aren‘t interrupting something?“ Professor Maelstrom could be heard. „Of course not, just some formalities.“ the scientist replied. „Well, we‘re all very curious how the training of your little special student is going. It‘s been almost a year and we have yet to meet the boy.“ Maelstrom continued. „Yes, in fact tomorrow it will be exactly one year. But if you called in hopes of meeting him right now I‘ll have to disappoint you. Neal just left to rest. He‘s had a long day of training, and tomorrow is a big day for him, even if he doesn‘t know what that day is yet.“<br/>Her colleagues gave her a questioning look. „Don‘t you think you should‘ve introduced the future student to us by now?“ Coach Brunt eventually asked and the others nodded in agreement. „We all are rather excited to meet this mysterious student of yours, Saira.“ Cleo added. „Yes, I know, and that time will come. But it is not now. I told you that he left to rest and i do not plan on waking him.“ Bellum made it clear that she wouldn‘t go fetch Neal right now just so the faculty could look at him.<br/>Realising this the others stopped their attempts of getting her to grab the boy, and instead started discussing future ‚projects‘.</p>
<p>--------</p>
<p>Neal woke up early the next day, sleepily opening his eyes to find a note that had been pinned to this tank, facing the inside so he could read it. „Get dressed and come to the kitchen.“ he muttered slowly as he read the note before doing some stretches in the water. Afterwards the boy climbed out of his tank, shaking off most of the water once he was outside before changing into his suit.<br/>The entire lab was quiet, the only noise was Neal‘s footsteps echoing through the halls as he made his way down to the kitchen. Slowly opening the door he peeked inside. Dr. Bellum turned on the lights when he did, having waited there „Happy ... foundling day, Neal.“ „w-what?“ the boy seemed rather confused, but his gaze immediately fell onto the chocolate-vanilla ice cream cake on the table, topped off with chocolate drizzle and strawberries. „A foundling is a child that was abandoned by its parents and is found and cared for by others.“ Bellum explained before realizing that that was probably not what he was confused about „ah, you see, when a child is born, family and friends celebrate their ‚birthday‘ once a year on that day since the child will then be 1 year older. I don‘t know when you were born, but i thought it would be nice to celebrate the day i found you. And since it‘s been exactly one year now..“ she gestured towards the cake „on that day the ‚birthday kid‘ often receives a cake to celebrate as well as presents. I know i don‘t usually let you have a lot of sweets, but I‘ll make today an exception. I‘ll show you your present later, for now-“ she cut off two slices of cake and put them on plates „cake.“<br/>Neal still seemed a little caught off guard with the whole thing, but it‘s not like he was going to complain about cake, sitting down at the table and starting to happily munch on his slice „Thank you, Saira.“ „No need to thank me, I did just buy the cake. Now take your time and tell me if you want more after“ she replied before starting to eat her own slice.<br/>When they were done Dr. Bellum put the rest of the cake back in the freezer so it wouldn‘t melt. „Well then, if the little elver would like to follow me, I believe you‘ll quite like your present.“. The eel nodded and got up, following the scientist out of the kitchen and towards an elevator „it‘s on a lower level than your current room, construction finished not to long ago.“ She lead him all the way to a closed door, waiting for Neal to open it. <br/>The boy was a little cautious at first since he didn‘t know what would be behind that door, slowly opening up the door. The first thing he noticed was that the humidity in that room seemed a lot higher, his jaw almost dropping to the floor once he got a look inside. „what.. how?“ he looked down at Dr. Bellum who just gave him an encouraging smile „go on inside. you didn‘t think I‘d let you stay in that little tank forever, did you? You can only spin in circles in that thing.“. Neal shook his head a little and walked into the room on the raised wooden path that led inside. The best thing to describe this room as would probably be one of those tropical themed water parks. Except that it looked way more natural and was swamp themed. Actual plants surrounding water areas that ran through the room. It seemed like you were no longer inside the lab, but standing outside in swampy wetlands. Bellum informed him about the filtration system and such and that the currently rather dim light could be turned up to be brighter if he wanted to, leading him down the wooden path that made it possible to traverse through the room without getting wet feet. At the end of the path, tucked away behind more shrubbery and plants, was a bigger wooden platform with a little table and an actual bed. „I‘m not sure if you want to sleep in a bed or not, you‘ll have to if you plan on going to the academy, but for now you can just sit on it if you‘d rather sleep in the water.“ Bellum continued to explain. The platform was in a corner of the huge area and Saira gestured to a door in the wall „of course there‘s also a bathroom in here, and just next to it is a vent opening for your ‚shortcuts‘.“. Neal was just looking around in awe since he couldn‘t believe that this actually existed. Saira smiled at his reaction „I‘m guessing you like it.“ „yes“ came the almost whispered reply back. „well then, I‘ll leave you to explore a bit, take your time. If you need me you know where you can find m-“ she didn‘t get to finish her sentence as Neal picked her up, giving her a tight hug. Bellum let out a surprised wheeze. The eel didn‘t look like he was very strong, but he definitely had some power in those arms. „Happy birthday, Neal“</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A quick update for once??? whaaaaaaaaaaaa????<br/>I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This is a mini chapter.<br/>Just a silly little thing.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun was shining. It was a bright midday just like so many other days had been before. Two more years had passed and Neal found himself strolling into town once again. Though this time he didn‘t plan on just walking around, he needed to buy groceries since Dr Bellum was off to teach the students at VILE academy again. Lately he had thought more and more about this school. Bellum had told him so much about it already, and Neal had asked her a few times if he couldn‘t just go early, but the doc refused, telling him that he needed to grow up first.<br/>„Soon“ he muttered to himself as he walked into the store, just wanting to experience something new. There was only so much you could do in the lab, and he really didn‘t feel like sitting around and staring at a tv all day. At least Saira had allowed him to go into town, since he really didn‘t know what he‘d be doing if he had to stay inside the building all day. The only condition being that he had to wear clothes over his suit, which was fair enough, he didn‘t want people staring or looking at him funny. All he wanted to do was blend in with the crowd and buy some food and snacks. <br/>The eel knew his way around the different aisles and it didn‘t take long before he had everything he needed in the basket, moving on to the snack aisle. Dr. Bellum didn‘t like him buying too many ‚unhealthy snacks‘, however Dr. Bellum wasn‘t here. Looking over the different bags and boxes he stopped at a bag of... crab chips? Without hesitation he dropped two bags into his basket. Neal didn‘t really know what they were, not having seen them in the shop before, but if it was crab it was probably nice. <br/>Next stop: checkout. He took the shortest way and almost ran into a little cardboard stand that they had placed in the middle of the path. The boy had noticed that they did things like this from time to time whenever they had a ‚special new item‘ or certain products for holidays, and this time they were really trying to sell.... ‚edible slime‘? Neal squinted his eyes and raised a brow as he picked up one of the little packages, which seemed to be just a single bag filled with some powder. Staring at it for a while Neal started to question if he was really going to spend money on this... Bellum did always notice whenever he spend more money on snacks, not that she could do anything about it anymore at that point, but she probably wouldn‘t be too happy if he spent money on something as odd as ‚edible slime‘. Deciding that he wouldn‘t buy it he slowly put it back with the others. Except that he didn‘t. Sliding the little powder packed into his pocket without anyone noticing, and continued on to the checkout area.</p>
<p>A few minutes later he was outisde the building again, choosing to take the route through the market to walk home. The little market wasn‘t always there, but sometimes people put up their little stands to cell fresh produce or things they had made. However he quickly came to a halt again when a certain smell reached him from down the market. He didn‘t need to see it to know what it was, and he also didn‘t WANT to see it to begin with. Turning around almost immediately. „Guess i <em>won‘t</em> be walking through the market.“ Neal muttered. He had only seen the little stand selling smoked eel one time, and he never wanted to see it again.</p>
<p>Once back at the laboratory the boy had gone straight to the kitchen, standing there with a little bowl, stirring goop. „This is stupid, why am I doing this..“ he questioned himself as he put the bowl back down, knowing very well that it was because his curiosity had gotten the better of him. The package had said to add water, stir and wait, so that is what he was doing, snacking on the crab chips as he stared at the green goop. <br/>After the time had passed he cautiously touched the green mass with a finger, making a little dent in it. Well it certainly wasn‘t slippery. The eel pulled a little piece of the goop off and popped it into his mouth, which resulted almost immediately in a gag reflex. „Nope nope NOPE!“ quickly hurrying to the sink he spat the ‚slime‘ back out and washed his mouth out with water „that.. is disgusting. What idiot would buy that??“ he thought for a second and realised that <em>he</em> was the idiot who had almost bought it. Neal shuffled back over to the bowl, just dumping the whole thing in the trash before grabbing the crab chips, leaving to go to his room.</p>
<p>Good thing he didn‘t buy it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>A friend had suggested Neal trying edible slime. So here ya go friendo &lt;3<br/>If you ever think "what if x" or "wouldn't it be cool if x" feel free to leave suggestions :D<br/>Hope you enjoyed reading this lil thing!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This one is also really short, but very sweet.<br/>I hope you'll like it!!<br/>Let me know what you think!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was early in the morning. Dr. Bellum had fallen asleep in her lab again, working on a new invention until late at night, laying face down on the table. <br/>
A slippery teen silently snuck into the room, creeping up to her until he was standing right in front of her on the other side of the table. Squatting down so he was peeking over the edge of the table now Neal loudly said „mom“, startling Bellum awake with a surprised squeak. He quite enjoyed her bamboozled expressions whenever he referred to her as ‚mother‘. „What-? What‘s the matter? Did something happen? Are you feeling alright?“ Bellum mumbled, still waking up as she adjusted her goggles which had slipped off halfway.<br/>
„I‘m good. Can we go to the beach?“ Neal asked, still peeking over the table. „Huh?“ the scientist seemed rather surprised, „where is that idea coming from so suddenly?“. He just shrugged „Didn‘t sleep well last night, so i rewatched some documentaries. I just.. want to go there.“. „Hmmmm, I‘ll think about it after i get up, i still have some work to fini-“. The boy interrupted her „I made fresh hot coco. It‘s in the kitchen.“. Saira paused and looked down at him, replying sarcastically „and you ‚dare‘ not bring it here with you?“ „Well, i need a reason for you to get up, do i not?“ he had a big grin on his face. „You sneaky sea serpent. Alright, fine, I‘m up.“ dramatically getting off her chair, „We can go to a beach if you really want to, but not one of those tourist traps, AND you‘ll have to finish your training for the day first. Just come find me again whenever you‘re done.“<br/>
The eel nodded and promptly ran off.</p>
<p>It had taken until late afternoon before the two went out to a beach, just strolling along the sandy shore.<br/>
After a while Neal stopped abruptly before diving down into the sand. When he got back up he was holding a little crab in his hands, smaller than the size of his palm „Look!“. Dr. Bellum watched him with a raised brow „..very cute. Please don‘t eat it and just put the little guy back down.“. „... .. i wasn‘t going to..“ Neal replied with the slightest pout. „that‘s what you said the last two times as well. Let it go, it just wanted to have a little walk on the beach as well.“ Bellum was still watching him as Neal slowly put the crab back down, watching it scurrie away.<br/>
„so, you wanted to come here?“ the scientist asked now, turning to face the ocean. „yes, but I don‘t know why.“ the eel replied, staring out into the sea with her. „Well, little elver, you‘re almost grown up. Mature eels are known to migrate to the sea from time to time. Of course i wouldn‘t know how it would be for you.“ she paused for a rather long time before she continued „...Neal?“ „Hm?“ the boy didn‘t turn his gaze away from the water. „You.. aren‘t just going to leave when you turn 18, are you?“. Neal turned towards her now with a mixture of confusion and surprise on his face „What? No! Of course not, doc. I want to go to that school you keep telling me about.“ „Good.“ Bellum muttered as a reply and turned away from him. Neal could have sworn that he saw her lift her goggles a little to wipe her eyes, or maybe he was just imagining things.<br/>
They just continued to stand there in silence and watched the sun set, colouring the sky in hues of red and yellow.</p>
<p>„Saira?“ <br/>
„Yes?“ <br/>
„You‘ll let me join the VILE academy when I turn 18, right?“<br/>
„Yes, but it won‘t be right away. You‘ll have to wait for a new school year to start.“<br/>
„How is training at the school? Are the students nice? I.. haven‘t had many interactions with people my age..“<br/>
„Training can be tough, but I‘m convinced that you‘re tougher.“ Saira gave him an encouraging smile, „and don‘t worry about the students, you‘ll have a seperate room. I‘m sure you‘ll be fine.“<br/>
Silence fell over them again as the sun disappeared behind the waves.</p>
<p>„Let‘s go back, little elver. It‘s getting a bit cold.“</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>He's growing up so fast.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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